Friday, December 13, 2013

Inspiration: Bitter Moon (1992)

Bitter Moon is my favourite Roman Polanski's film, being a fearless free-fall into the depths of love and lust. This story depicts a twisted, obsessive love affair and its descent to a degrading, dependency-fueled dysfunctional hell of relationship, concerning the sadistic disintegration of passionate romance, told in flashbacks.

British couple Nigel (a role played by Hugh Grant as the well-behaved Englishman) and Fiona Dobson (Kristin Scott Thomas at her classiest) are on a cruise ship en route to India. On the ship, they meet the charming, sultry and French Mimi (played by Roman Polanki's wife in real life, the gorgeous Emmanuelle Seigner) and her much older American husband Oscar (Peter Coyote), a paraplegic aspiring writer. Oscar is the storyteller, narrating his former fascination for Mimi, much to Nigel's intriguing interest. Obviously, Nigel is aroused by all the taboos he doesn't explore in his own relationship - and of course, also aroused and attracted to Mimi herself. Nigel finds himself more and more thrilled by the details told by Oscar: the various stages of a doomed relationship, from Heaven to Hell, from sumptuous wonder to complete wreck... Basically, a well-crafted, slightly scary portrait of marriage that would certainly make anyone think twice.

Polanski does a remarkable job by exploring the layers of the human psyche in this tale of sweet gone sour sort of love story, enslaving marriage, kinky sex, obsession and emotional damage - painful to watch yet lyrical. Bitter Moon is set in contemporary Paris, which adds more brilliance to this saga of crippling emotions, unconventional love/hate with tragic consequences ahead.

I won't tell you how Oscar ends up in a wheelchair, you find out for yourself and watch this film. Or maybe you already did and in that case I'd really appreciate your review/opinion.